India News | CBI Files Charge Sheet Against Writer Zacharia and Others

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 13 (PTI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against noted Malayalam author Paul Zacharia and four others including two charitable organisations in a case related to embezzlement of foreign funds.

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The CBI recently filed the charge sheet before the Chief Judicial Magistrate here against the Good Samaritan Project India (GSPI), the Catholic Reformation Literature Society (CRLS), and four individuals including Zacharia for allegedly violating the provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

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"GSPI has mis-utilised the balance amount of Tsunami fund by converting it for its own use." It was directed to use it only for the benefit of Tsunami victims. "The accused decided to misappropriate the balance amount of the Tsunami fund and thereby transferred the said fund to their capital fund and made false statements...," CBI said in its charge sheet.

Both the charity organisations had executed charitable and religious projects of a foreign firm, Woord en Daad, a religious and charitable organisation, in Kerala.

CBI said the accused caused wrongful gain to GSPI and wrongful loss to the foreign funder and the beneficiaries, i.e. victims of the tsunami.

The charge sheet has named GSPI as the first accused and the CRLS as the second accused. While GSPI chairman K P Philip has been arraigned as the third accused, CRLS chairman Thomas Abraham Kallivayalil is the fourth accused.

Jojo Chandy, the treasurer of both the organisations, and Zacharia, who is the secretary of the CRLS, are the fifth and the sixth accused in the case.

CBI alleged that the GSPI had misappropriated tsunami funds and transferred huge amounts to its capital fund despite making false statements about the same in its annual finance statement.

"GSPI also has mis-utilised the fund given by Woord en Daad for street children school project by converting it in to its own use by starting a school for namesake and closed the school unilaterally and thereby caused wrongful gain to GSPI and wrongful loss to Woord en Daad and the beneficiaries, ie the street children," the charge sheet read.

The CBI said both the agencies have committed various offences under the FCRA.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)